Today is a beautiful day here in athens. It is sunny and warm and already the day kicked off with a solidarity action: The french cultural center was burned down. In solidarity with their struggle for education. I finally got around to uploading my pictures… enjoy

they can be viewed here

Editors note: After some facial redacting, the pictures will be posted. There’s been a pox on our house for the past few days and I’m preoccupied with being loving and nurturing andunable to get into character.

Thu 12/18/08 4:35 PM

was the most intense day of my life. I was at the law school.
It was kinda traumatic honestly.

(We)… are alive though, back in relative safety at the occupied economic university

Things are going awesome once again, I am safe, having fun, and extremely tired! So much exercise!

Wed 12/17/08 9:20 AM

Today we travelled into the suburbs for a demo against the prisons, people here are trying to abolish them, but there wasn’t many people, about 40 kids 12-17 years old. so we disbanded and headed for a demo near the occupied universities against the courts and the police. again, there was only 150-200 people. mostly kids 12-17 years old, they had fun throwing eggs, flour, and silly objects at the police. the police got somewhat agressive, and so we reacted. which turned into a small riot, dumpsters burned, bank smashed, advertisements smashed. mind you these are high school kids… everybody hates the police here! they chase us back almost all the way to the universities ~2 miles. we stay here until we hear that down the street a bit an occupied trade union building (by anarchists/squatters) is under threat of eviction by the union bosses. we hurry over with pipes, poles, rocks, and you know, all the usual prolitariet street fighting gear. The bosses leave, the occupation remains. in a few more hours there will be another demo against the police… I am safe, a bit tired, but the rebellion continues

Tue 12/16/08 4:17 PM

we also made transit free in the city for today, but wrecking the ticket machines and spray painting the cameras, mad graf everywhere today.

no riots though

Tue 12/16/08 10:00 AM

So much is happening today!
The prime minister makes a speech on tv, but anarchists hijack the state television station!

The banner reads “free all political prisioners” the signs read “stop watching, turn off your tv, everyone to the streets!”

The situation has turned for the better, yet again. Around 1pm Today (Athens Time) Anarchists firebombed the Police Barracks and burned them to the ground. Also the Soldiers in the Greek Military formed a union and made a pact that states “they will not take up arms, or fight against civilians”.

More actions are planed for today that will unify the country against capitalism and the state.

A banner in solidarity with greek anarchists and in memory of 15 year old alexandros grigoropoulos, who was recently killed by police in athens greece, was spotted hanging from a building on liberty ave. this morning. the banner hung for approximately 4 hours from the roof which is located between ella and taylor sts.

the banner reads:

in memory of
a. grigoropoulos
humanity’s struggle
against authority
continues

Two comrades of the Yinsurrectionary Times arrived in Greece over the weekend. We’ll be posting updates as they become available. Check back.

Mon 12/15/08 7:01 PM

Greece is fucking dope. School children fight better than the most seasoned militants. Rocks line the air and dumpsters burn, shit is mad fucking real. I hope all is well with you there. I miss you!

Mon 12/15/08 4:56 AM

So what really hyped people here in Athens was the Milwaukee banner drop

Also there were some under cover cops on motor bikes circling the university… yeah it’s amazing how quickly people organize, suit up, and get ready for attack. the cops left.

Over 700 schools, dozens of industries and hundreds of buildings are now occupied. This is social war! There are thousands of school children (who have occupied their schools) that are going to march today. Tomorrow will bring back the some of the flavor that we saw last week 😉

love yinz,
staying wild…
*****

Sun 12/14/08 9:37 AM

***** it is amazing… there are no more banks, atms, or police stations.

Sun 12/14/08 6:34 AM

I have arrived with **** in Athens. We had no problem with customs/immigration. I am staying in the School of Economics (right up the street from the Polytechnic) which is occupied by students/anarchists. It is undescribeable how amazing everything is. There is Anarchist graffiti everywhere, music playing, stockpiled molotov cocktails, free food, huge banners, amazingly friendly and welcoming people, and people working on a voluntary co-operative basis. I am taking some pictures and will be putting them online shortly. People are resting now from a hard week, but the sentiment here is that it is far from over!

This Saturday, December 13 11:30am In front of the Pittsburgh Police Zone 2 Headquarters: Because the role of the police as agents of state control and repression is universal, and our resistance must be just as global. Bring: Signs, banners, flags, noisemakers, and other symbols and expressions of resistance and support for our Greek comrades.

On December 6, Greek police shot and killed 15-year-old anarchist Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Exarchia, an anarchist area in Athens. This act came days after police killed a Pakistani immigrant and attacked textile workers protesting for unpaid wages. These specific acts of state violence are within the context of the right-wing government’s program of privatization, deregulation, repression against social movements, and escalating attacks on pensions, labor rights, education, immigrants, and anarchists.

The murder has sparked a general uprising by tens of thousands of anarchists, students, immigrants, and workers who, for almost a week, have been occupying schools and universities, confronting police, and attacking government symbols of authority and corporate power. While diverse tendencies are engaging in these decentralized actions, they point towards a number of reformist and revolutionary views worthy of support: a desire to remove the current right-wing government from power; dissatisfaction with capitalism and corporate globalization; the desire for autonomy and freedom from coercive hierarchies; and rejection of the state repression being directed against immigrants, anarchists, and other groups.

The cost of holding the streets has been heavy, with dozens of protesters injured and hundreds arrested. It is the largest outbreak of social discontent since the fall of Greece’s military dictatorship and may yet topple the current government.

In these decisive days of heroic resistance within Greece it is the responsibility of anarchists, students, and workers around the world to show our support. This is critical in light of the media coverage that seems only to show WHAT people are doing while distorting or ignoring the reasons WHY.

Greece is an inspiration to all of us who believe in human solidarity, who desire to live free and to shake off government and corporate control of our lives, workplaces, and communities.

Hundreds of solidarity actions are occurring around the world. Protesters blockaded the Greek Embassy in London, and the Berlin and Paris embassies have been occupied. Within the United States solidarity protests are happening in San Francisco, New York City, Olympia, and elsewhere. In Pittsburgh we are organizing a public, visible gathering at the Zone 2 Police Headquarters. The role of the police as an agent of state control and repression is universal, and it is a fitting location to connect our resistance locally to that occurring globally.

We encourage people not just to attend, but to continue manifesting their solidarity in other direct, creative, and relevant ways throughout the city.

This solidarity gathering is organized by individuals affiliated with various radical projects and initiatives in Pittsburgh. Due to the time sensitive nature of the event, we are unable to seek endorsement by specific groups. Instead, we are simply calling for the local radical community to put aside any personal or organizational gripes to come together in a unified gathering in support of the uprising in Greece.

(Full Disclosure: I was affiliated for a couple years with the group who put out this publication. )

I was unsure what to expect from this project, since I hadn’t been keeping up with POG’s recent activities, membership, or orientation. I recalled some members of the group had wanted to publish some kind of ongoing anarchist periodical for years, but election years can dilute the character of resistance (and make it hard to find reefer). It’s good that this finally came together.

The first issue of Steel City Revolt manages to walk a fine line. The covers and printing are professional enough to be taken seriously outside of radical ghettos, without being so slick that you wonder where that money came from. Good layout and graphics. The content is militant, without being too threatening or scary. A sizable portion of the magazine is composed of personal accounts which are much more readable than the kind of manifesto rhetoric that can only ever hope to preach to the choir, at best. The internal group documents and donation/membership forms are less obtrusive than your average subscription card. Overall, it adheres to a pretty orthodox left/activist anarchism, but pays some lip service to the insurrectionary project with a quote and illustration from the Harper’s stuff on the 1877 uprisings, a Bonanno quote, pretty cool centerfold world map listing various international ruptures occuring between July and September.

Fortunately there are no attempts to redefine anarchism and it’s relationship to presidential elections. The firsthand accounts of the RNC actions did an especially good job of capturing the mood of these kinds of events and the interview-style article on US elections was solid, all told, there’s a bare minimum of the kind of diplomatic mollifying that is required to keep liberals from spitting on you, because you disagree with them.

The sadly, largely neglected struggle against I-69, a time-line of anarchist hunger strike from Spain, the RNC 8, and a tribute to two recently slain activists make up some of the outside content. There’s also some features/cultural stuff including movie (which is also a personal account of the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle) and book reviews, gift ideas, crafting, the mandatory ascetic recipes, and poetry (although an excerpt from P. Shelly’s “Mask of Anarchy” is erroneously labeled as “The Call to Freedom”, as it is in many places on ‘teh interwebs’. It seems like the sparts objected to the rest of the poem and cut their own favorite piece off and gave it their own title)

One of the things that I found less than thrilling was the “indivdualism” vs “collectivism” false-dichotomy that popped up in the “Get to Know an Anarchist from the Past” feature. An anarchist collective must by definition be composed of anarchist individuals, although some days I have to wonder. Devoting four pages to business union boilerplate wasn’t entirely unexpected or entirely negative, especially the plain talk on the PAT/ATU situation. The unconditional cheerleading for big labor isn’t limited to POG, but is a shortcoming of left/activist anarchism in general, and won’t likely be solved in a periodical review.

All told, POG has put together a entertaining and informative magazine.While I have my doubts about formal anarchist groups, left activism, and their capacity to attack State and Capital, during periods of low revolutionary actvity, a project like Steel City Revolt proves they can publish a worthwhile periodical. I’m glad to see more time devoted to radically-oriented media as opposed to the futility of trying to get honest treatment from corporate media. I look forward to the next issue.

The City has unboarded the house, but informed the residents that they may not sleep there. Legal status is being worked out. A benefit is planned, and donations are being accepted.

UPDATE!!!!

Thanks to the hundreds of phones calls of support to Council Woman Payne’s office, public works, the mayors office, and to 311; the Support of Council Woman Payne, and legal aid from the ACLU, our lawyer and one long, hard day of work from many other helpful folks, the boards will be removed from the farmhouse. We are thankful for all your support. This victory, though temporary, has shown us just how many people in our community and the larger community care about Landslide.

On the morning of November 7th 2008 the Landslide Community Farm volunteers were assembling to plan the 3rd day of their yearly farm closing work week, when Pittsburgh Public Works arrived escorted by several PGHPD vehicles, including a police wagon. The police asked for identification from all people on the sidewalk when they arrived.They then asked to see a written lease agreement or deed for the farmhouse.

No written agreement was able to be presented; police officers then notified all present that we had fifteenminutes to remove our important belongings before the house would be barred.When asked why we were being evicted, we were told that an anonymous complaint call had been made to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s 311 hotline.The caller claimed that we were violating building code.

Neighbors, visitors, and volunteers helped us retrieve as much of our property as we all could before we were denied re-entry. The Public Works employees then measured and tried to board the doors, but their van was a bit too far down the hill.They pulled the van up and backed over their own saw.They had to leave the premises to purchase a new one.Police officers remained outside watching the community farm members as we watched over the farmhouse.

Public Works returned and boarded two of the entrances.The police asked if anyone was still present in the house.A full time volunteer re-entered and checked the premises and reported that no one remained inside. Then, two police officers entered the house admittedly without permission from the owner and without a search warrant.Public Works then boarded the last door and the police informed us we would be immediately arrested if we entered the farmhouse. The PW workers left with the police shortly afterward.

Councilwoman Tonya Payne, a major supporter of the farm, came a bit later with the same PW employees that had sealed the farmhouse.She and the other city employees said they wished they could help us in this situation.The councilwoman didn’t know how to go about that, and the PW employees said that they could only follow orders.We are now trying to figure out our next steps and what our options are. We are currently working with a lawyer but if you have ideas or advice please email Landslide@riseup.net.

If you would like to help us out, we need you!Please come to Landslide in the next few days to help us finish our closing work.You can also attend our emergency fundraiser tomorrow, November 8th, 2008 5452 Wilkins Ave. at 8 pm.We will be having our weekly Sunday Brunch benefit (a spilt benefit between Landslide and Book ‘Em) as usual on Sunday, November 9th Noon-3ish pm. Anything that you have (especially love and support) will help get us through this tough period and build our collective strength.Monies collected will first go toward legal fees and we will also be raising money in case the farmhouse goes up for city auction soon.If you cannot physically come to Landslide but want to donate money, you can send donations via Pay Pal on http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org by selecting “Donate” then “Projects” then choosing the Sustainable Living Project. Checks should be made out to “The Thomas Merton Center” memo “Sustainable Living Project”. Checks and money orders can be sent to: The Thomas Merton Center 5125 Penn Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15206.We will have a list of tools and materials that we could use and projects that are being completed posted on our website shortly.Please check http://www.landslidecommunityfarm.org for updates.

Thanks so much to everyone that has been a part of all the kindness, generosity, and overwhelming support that the project has received.We couldn’t be here with out it.

This was my first visit, and I was quite impressed.This incident was kind of shocking to me, as far as I knew, this was a pretty well respected and established project, with both community and a degree of political support. Hell, even the Trib, was impressed.

**Update**

Councilwoman Tonya Payne’s office has contacted us to say that she’s working on the issue and that we should stop contacting her so she can get to work helping us. Please stop calls to Councilwoman Payne’s office but continue calling Mayor Ravensthal’s hotline 311 and the Department of Public Works (412) 255-2790 (ext 3).
City officials are now telling us that we are being evicted because the house had no doors or windows. You can clearly see doors AND windows in the photograph below (which was taken at the time of the eviction). Our attorneys are advising us that regardless of any alleged building code violations, the eviction was without proper notice or opportunity to remedy any problems and completely illegal.
Thank you all for all of your support. Keep checking back to www.landslidecommunityfarm.org for updates. Let’s keep the pressure on!
In Solidarity,

Landslide Community Farm

At a little before 9:00 am this morning, four police officers and two representatives from Pittsburgh Public Works arrived at the Landslide Community Farm farmhouse (#3 Allequippa St.) and told everyone inside to leave—the house was being boarded up. Police and Public Works officials could produce no documentation other than a work order instructing them to board up the house. Apparently someone had phoned in a complaint stating that 20 or so ‘vagrants’ had been living in the house. There had been no advance notice, no opportunity to fix any purported problems, just an abrupt eviction. Police demanded to see a written lease. When none could be presented (our lease agreement is verbal, as are around 40% of all leases agreements) they told us that they had ‘no choice’ but to comply with the order and board up the house. Police made it clear that the owner of the house had not requested the eviction and that they had not contacted her before We are working hard to settle the situation but we need your help to pressure the authorities to let us back into our homes. Please call: Councilwoman Tonya Payne-412-255-2134 Mayor Luke Ravensthal’s Hotline- 311 Tell Councilwoman Payne and the Mayor that Landslide community farm is an established and respected community project. Take all appropriate action to let these farmers back into their homes! In Solidarity,
Landslide Community Farm http://www.landslidecommunityfarm.org